The Long Due Storm.
Though the immediate causes of the Second Dutch War lie in the state of European diplomacy after the Eleven Years War and the Jacobite Revolution, as well as in the growing colonial and commercial competition between the Anglo-French and the Sino-Dutch blocks in the 1710s and the 1720s, the war's origins can also be traced back to the First Dutch War (also, the Franco-Dutch War or the Third Anglo-Dutch War; 1672-1678), when France and England - then under Louis XIV and Charles II respectively - tried to crush the Dutch Republic, to avenge past injustices, crush the perfidious commercial power of the "nation of shopkeepers" and generally carve it up. But the capture of various Dutch ports and whatnot wasn't really as important as the neutralisation of Dutch interference; the Dutch had provided fierce colonial and commercial competition to England, and at the same time frustrated Louis XIV's territorial ambitions by putting their economic weight behind his enemies. Anyhow, the Dutch had warded off the attackers long enough to receive foreign assistance and survive. Since then, a series of wars was fought between France and a coalition that inevitably included the Dutch Stadtholder, Willem III. In 1688 said Willem even pulled quite a coup by stealing Britain, tying its foreign policies to those of Holland and then using the resultant combination to parry the latest French thrust. But in 1704, things changed. Willem III died. The Eleven Years War was won by France, and numerous border territories long denied to Louis XIV were annexed. After the death of Louis XIV came the death of Queen Anne, the widow of Willem III. The Dutch, in a Stadtholderless period once again, had planned together with the said widow to retain England (now Britain) as a Dutch ally by arranging a transfer of power to Georg I of Hannover; but the Tory leaders and Cardinal Melchior de Polignac thwarted them by capitalising on popular dissent with the pro-Hannoverian Whigs and with the idea of foreign rule in general, and managed to organise the aforementioned Jacobite Revolution.
Thus Britain was pulled out of the Dutch sphere of influence. Although in the early years of James III's reign any strong foreign policy - especially a binding alliance with France - was impossible, as time went on the regime stabilised, while the public opinion increasingly shifted in the support of closer ties with France, with a view towards an united front against the Dutch. The reason the Dutch came to be so hated was the importance of international commerce for the British society as a whole, or at the very least for those in position to seriously influence public opinion - and the fierce colonial and commercial competition that the Dutch once more put up in the face of the British efforts to get a better slice of the East Indian market. The VOC, already hegemonic in the Indian Ocean, was doing its best to seize a virtual monopoly over the maritime commerce there, and acted ruthlessly against all competition, using mercenaries, local allies or even direct military attacks (claimed to be in retaliation). That worked quite well against the Portuguese, forcing the Brazilian Empire to focus on Africa in the new century. Britain and France proved more persistant, however, securing native allies of their own and increasing their commercial and military presence in their colonies and their allied states (the military part mostly applied to the French, in Ile de Dauphine, Hyderabad and Cambodia). The latter fact was particularily alarming, causing the Dutch to grow their own military presence and to seek out militarily-potent allies; although they did improve their relations with the Maratha Confederacy and the Ayutthayan Empire, their main ally remained Nan Ming China, which was building up its naval capacity anyway. So an agreement was signed; in exchange for the participation of an Imperial representative in the VOC's decision-making process and some other concessions, the Chinese pledged to protect the VOC holdings in the East Indies themselves.
As the best information the British and the French had about Chinese naval capacity came from the rather badly mishandled 1709 invasion of the Philippines, that did not actually inspire much fear.
Anyway, united in the holy feeling of hatred for all things Dutch, as well as in the goals of opening the Indian Ocean up to their own commerce (and in French case of stealing some Dutch border territories; Maastricht was particularily desirable, being an enclave and a good fortress), Britain and France had since the mid-1720s been preparing for a major world-wide coordinated campaign against the Dutch colonies. At the same time, a considerable military buildup had been occuring in Europe. It was hoped that even if the Indian Ocean campaign doesn't go as planned, the capture of the Dutch metropoly would force the VOC to its knees anyway - plus the British were eager to take a revanche on the Dutch fleet, while the French expressed hope for loot and territorial aggrandisement. Also plans were in discussion that war should be brought to Hannover, which still was a Dutch ally; its defeat would allow France to extend its influence into the northwestern HRE, and would remove a potentially significant threat to the Jacobite regime. However, the cooler heads on both sides of the Channel (such as Cardinal de Polignac and Jonathan Swift) were opposed to that last plan; Hannover, they argued, was really insignificant unless things got really bad in Britain itself - and it certainly wasn't worth a likely war against the Holy Roman Empire. Indeed an attack on Hannover would likely benefit Karl VI most of all, as he would be able to rally the HRE against France and Britain, and so perhaps make it a real and hostile force - and nobody really wants that, right? Still, the plans against the Dutch, though also still vague and half-formed as far as the specifics of the war itself went, were agreed upon by all that mattered. Now all that was needed was a cause, and the completion of a "public relations" campaign against the Dutch in Britain and on the international arena.
As pamphlets and diplomats spoke of the Dutch atrocities and ruthlessness, and their criminal attacks on peaceful British merchants, a suitable cause for war finally appeared - it was, indeed, too suitable, as the Dutch had beaten both the British real and proclaimed expectations when in 1732 they launched what is now usuallly regarded as a preemptive attack; operating from their local forts and outposts, VOC mercenaries and Dutch soldiers attacked Fort William (also known as Calcutta), where a large British force was preparing for a campaign against the Dutch colonies in Bengal. A fierce night battle ensued, but in the end the Dutch initiative and superior numbers prevailed; Fort William fell, and the British assets in Bengal were seized.
Genuinely outraged, the British declared war and soon were joined by the French and the Spanish. In Europe, Holland was initially backed by Hannover alone, Denmark-Norway not yet daring to honour its alliance. In Asia, the diplomatic situation was much more confusing, as neither the Marathas nor the Ottomans chose to join the war directly, but still provided a degree of assistance to their allies. China, however, was clearly intent on honouring its agreement, and also prepared a new attack on the Philippines. Ayutthaya was always eager to fight the French (especially in Cambodia), though it was yet to make any definite gestures.
The Anglo-French diplomacy in Europe had mixed results. While managing to bring in Spain and Munster on their side, it failed to convince the Brazilians to launch a war of revanche; the Brazilians were, as already mentioned, more interested in Africa, specifically in Kongo where war was heating up. Also, no definite pledge of neutrality could in the end be procured in Copenhagen. In Asia, there was more success; the Mughals, backed by French and British arms and advisors, managed to tie down the Marathas, while Hyderabad and Cambodia were by default obliged to assist.
As the Dutch attack took the Anglo-French by surprise, real campaigning - aside from a few raids and naval skirmishes in 1732 - could only begin next year. But when it begun, it begun indeed. As befits a world war, the first major battle occured in the sea, at the West Frisian island of Texel. In this Second Battle of Texel the combined Anglo-French armada had tricked the Dutch fleet into sallying by providing it with the apparent opportunity to defeat the enemy in detail, only to then bring out the reinforcements and so trap the Dutch fleet. The modern, professional and well-motivated Dutch fleet fought well, Admiral Jan Cruys trying to execute a fighting retreat, but as fate would have it the Dutch flagship, De Zeven Provincien - quite possibly the most powerful ship in Europe - sunk during the fearsome bombardment. Disordered and demoralised, the Dutch fleet took significant casualties, and the encouraged Anglo-French admirals pursued it further, effectively crippling Dutch naval power in Europe. After that the British Marine Regiments and the French Troupes de marine secured the West Frisian islands, and the navy initiated an effective blockade of the Dutch coasts. It wasn't actually all that effective, especially at first - many of the surviving Dutch squadrons slipped away and along with the privateers took to commerce raiding and suchlike. Others rushed to reinforce the Dutch forces in the West Indies, but came too late as, later in the same year, the British defeated the West Indies squadron and (over the rest of 1733 and the early 1734) seized the Dutch possessions in the Lesser Antilles and the Suriname.
In the Indian Ocean theatre, the naval campaigns naturally saw an Anglo-French initiative early on; the Dutch admirals there were aware of the enemy's supremacy and so decided not to face him in futile open battles, instead conserving their strenght for the deense of Java itself in coordination with the Chinese. In accordance with this strategy much of the Dutch squadrons in the Ocean were gathered at Batavia, while the rest went to defend various important ports elsewhere, with the support of local coastal artillery. The Anglo-French forces executed attacks on diverse targets. The British immediately and foolhardily attacked the Dutch-ruled city of Padang, on Sumatra; surprisingly enough they succeeded, but a raid against Batavia itself was defeated very thoroughly. Meanwhile, the French chiefly operated in the western parts of the Ocean, securing the recently-abandoned island of Mauritius, and seizing numerous Dutch outposts in southern India. Although a Dutch squadron - the strongest one outside of Batavia - had repulsed the invasion of the Persian Gulf, the French were nonetheless surprised at the comparative weakness of the resistance generally offered. This allowed them and their British allies to launch a coordinated assault on Ceylon, in alliance with the native kingdom of Kandy. That alliance proved decisive, and the multi-pronged eliminated the local Dutch presence; key forts were seized by the allies, and the rest of the coastland was awarded to the king of Kandy. Aside from the British campaign, not much yet occured in the East Indies themselves, but the French shored up their presence there, and confirmed their alliance with Cambodia, while also signing a new one with the Sultanate of Achin, a local trade power eager to reclaim its old commercial hegemony that was ruined by the VOC in the 17th century. Ayutthaya yet remained impassive.
Back in Europe, the overland campaign begun sonn after the conquest of the West Frisians. The United Provinces came under attack from three directions. First, the French - sporting their formidable artillery and other siege engines that had gained quite a reputation since the Third Siege of Vienna in 1712 - besieged and captured Maastricht; then they divided their attack force into two parts, and while one advanced to besiege Breda, Tilburg and Eindhoven, the other linked up with the forces of the Prince-Bishop of Munster and attacked northern Holland, besieging Groningen. Lastly, an Anglo-French force landed in Friesland and took the city of Leeuwarden by surprise. Other, less serious naval raids terrorised the Dutch coast, although an amphibious attack on Amsterdam failed miserably.
In 1734 the situation in Europe changed dramatically when, in response to the pleas of Georg I Ludwig of Hannover, Karl VI did indeed decide to rally the Holy Roman Empire against the Anglo-French "Entente", and also against the Bishop of Munster, to whose lands he felt his family had a legitimate claim. Naturally that was easier said than done, but ultimately the northern German princes at least were persuaded to assist their co-religionists, if only out of fear that after Holland's fall they might be next. The southwest was less eager to fight the French more than absolutely necessary, but did gave some formal support; so did the Habsburgs, who also immediately concluded a gentlemen's agreement with the French to not extend this war into Italy or the Mediterranean, i.e. anywhere where they could realistically fight. Still, fresh troops now begun to arrive to help defend Holland, and the Bishop of Munster was forced to withdraw his forces from Groningen to defend his own realm. Also, Denmark-Norway was encouraged by this and pledged to honour its alliance with Holland. To the dismay of the Anglo-French, a genuine coalition was rising against them, though still far from their match as long as the Habsburgs remained virtually neutral. This meant that the assault had to be sped up. After a coastal naval battle with the surviving elements of the Dutch European fleet, the Anglo-French forces captured the virtually defenseless Hague. Fortunately for the Dutch, the Staten-Generaal had realised the vulnerability of a deliberately wall-less capital, and so prudently evacuated to Amsterdam after the first raids occured in the Hague's vicinity. Still, the attackers now gained a new foothold and a propaganda victory. At the same time, in the south, Tilburg and Eindhoven surrendered, though Breda - being one of Holland's stongest and oldest fortresses - still held (that and the water lines prevented further northwards advance). The Entente Marines also secured much of Zeeland. Affairs in the northeastern theatre went badly, as expected - the Bishopric of Munster was overran by Hannoverian and Prussian forces, and the siege of Groningen was lifted, though Friesland remained British.
In the next year, the Entente suffered another diplomatic defeat. Sweden, in a political crisis since the death of the mentally-unstable Carl XII in 1731, restabilised again. After a brief civil war, Magnus Stenbock, Carl's appointed heir, managed to reach a compromise with the noble factions rising against him; he married Ulrika Eleanora, Carl XII's sister, and reconvenned the Riksdag, granting it some real legislative power. Also he rescinded some of Carl XII's more controversial reforms, but was allowed to retain the new succession law due to his own respectable age and the Queen's doubtable fertility. Apart from this compromise, Magnus V of Sweden generally worked to form a secure power base for himself on the foundations of Protestantism and nationalism (indeed much of his appeal amongst the common populace stemmed from being a genuine Swedish noble, as opposed to a German related to the Holy Roman Emperor, as even Carl XII was, being a Swedish Wittelsbach). So to make his power base all the more secure - and to improve Sweden's international prestige - and to distract the Riksdag from various domestic issues - he pledged support for the United Provinces, and sent an expeditionary corps to Friesland. There, Swedish, Danish, Imperial and Dutch forces expelled the British from Leeuwarden and then from the rest of the province, in spite of the reinforcements James III kept sending there. Eastern Holland was now for all purposes well out of the Entente's reach. That made the conquest of the western seaboard all the more imperative, and so more forces (British and French) were sent in to conquer the province of Holland itself. A costly failure of an assault on Breda occured as well.
1734 and 1735 saw the war in the Indian Ocean theatre intensify immensely, with many new campaigns launched. Thus, for instance, a British expedition captured Kaapstad, the capital of Sudafrika, and went on to take over much of the coastline, though many of the Dutch colonists retreated into the interior and pledged to fight a guerrila war from there, tying down more British troops still. An invasion of Bengal failed due to the VOC being assisted by the local governor thanks to the tactless behaviour of the British diplomats trying to coerce him into helping the Entente. Fierce fighting ensued as major Ayutthayan and Chinese forces invaded Cambodia, slowly but surely advancing and taking fortress after fortress, in spite of the stalwart Franco-Cambodian resistance. However, in 1735 a series of battles occured around Phnom Penh and Prey Nokor, the realm's two most prosperous and most important cities; the invaders failed to take both and took major casualties thanks to the Cambodian guerrila warfare and major French reinforcements that had now arrived. And, ofcourse, there was fighting in the East Indies themselves, where a major Anglo-French fleet had by now converged. The Malay Peninsula and Sumatra were largely cleansed of the Dutch presence after the 1734-1735 Siege of Malacca, but further east the situation was more complicated; the attack on Borneo failed, while the Spanish, who were supposed to help in its conquest, came under attack from a Chinese armada. This time the local viceroy's luck had ran out; with the help of local insurgents, the Chinese had overrran Luzon and besieged Manila. Spanish colonial authority elsewhere in the islands begun to collapse. The central objective, as far as both sides were concerned, remained Java however. After the first few Anglo-French raids and naval skirmishes, a major naval battle between the Sino-Dutch and Anglo-French flotillas occured at Pulaupanjang island. As far as epic clashes between two huge fleets go, it was extremelly anticlimatic; the Anglo-French fleet was repulsed, but managed to retreat without too much loss. Later in 1735, a Sino-Dutch counterattack occured in Sumatra, as the pro-Chinese kingdom of Palembang - as well as a fairly large Sino-Dutch contingent - moved against Bengkulu, the main British outpost on Sumatra. After some confused skirmishing the fort was besieged, though supplied from the sea. That caused the 1736 naval Battle of Bengkulu. Again, the Sino-Dutch fleet clashed with the Anglo-French one. This time, the results were slightly more decisive, as the Anglo-French - who had made the mistake of not concentrating their forces here and instead detached some of their fleet to raid Ayutthaya and some to control the Java Sea - were defeated and forced to retreat northwards, while the city surrendered.
Also in 1736, however, a major Entente victory occured back in Europe, when Amsterdam was captured. Also this time the Staten-Generaal failed to get away; that is, individual members managed to flee the city in the last moment, but many were arrested by the Anglo-French troops that suddenly besieged, bombarded and assalted the city. In the same time fell the rest of the Holland province, and the conquest of North Brabant was complete with the surrender of Breda. All that caused no small degree of disorganisation and demoralisation in the United Provinces, though fortunately these Provinces were decentralised enough to avoid falling into anarchy. Also, the Swedo-Imperial forces prevented further advance, defeating Entente troops at Utrecht and at Leerdam. On the naval front the Danish-Swedish fleet managed to unite with the Hannoverian one and the remnants of the Dutch one to score a strategically-insignificant, but still encouraging victory at Helgoland. All attempts to lift the Anglo-French blockade of the United Provinces failed, though.
By this moment the continuation of the war seemed increasingly senseless to the Entente leaders; in spite of the setbacks of the East Indies, they now held both Amsterdam and the Hague, as well as many other significant cities, and also occupied many of the Dutch colonies. However, the VOC, believing that the tables have been turned, refused to capitulate, as did the emergency council in Groningen that passed for the Dutch government now. The Dutch allies - for varying reasons - were also adamant in continuing to support the United Provinces. And meanwhile, the assorted campaigns were beginning to seriously hurt the economy of the Entente kingdoms (especially when combined with the major disruption of trade both in Europe and in the East Indies). Also disconcerting was the death of James III (from widely-debated and ultimately unestablished causes) and the subsequent two-year regency in Great Britain.
Anyhow, the war continued into 1737. In Holland, that year saw a lot of bloody and indecisive battles. Confused naval skirmishing occured through the North Sea, with a singular (and purely symbolic) Danish raid in Scotland. In the East Indies, mutual frustration has resulted in the Battle of Pagai Selatan (a middling-to-small island west of Sumatra), where both sides attempted to achieve decisive results. In the end, however, all that was achieved were major losses for both sides; the Sino-Dutch fleet was forced to retreat and abandon the plans for the reconquest of Sumatra, but their enemies were too weakened themselves to launch any kind counter-offensive.
After that, apart from the fierce fighting in Cambodia - where the tides of war kept alternating wildly - the Second Dutch War begun to peter out, as both sides reached what essentially was their limits in the face of the present opposition. The cost of the war had by then become unacceptable for both sides. In 1738 a treaty was worked out between the provisional government of the United Provinces and the governments of Britain and France; the Lesser Antilles and most of the Indian outposts were restored to the respective Dutch companies, but Britain annexed Suriname and South Africa, while France took Maastricht, Mauritius and the Ceylonese ports, as well as some of the Indian outposts and European enclaves. Calcutta and Bengkulu were restored to Britain, while the VOC regained Malacca in exchange for conceding western Sumatra to the British sphere of influence. The British were also allowed to set up a fixed number of trade outposts in the Moluccas and the Bandas, in reparation for those that the Dutch had previously destroyed. The United Provinces themselves, apart from the annexed enclaves, were evacuated; the attackers were mostly content with decimating the Dutch fleet, razing the border fortifications during the occupation and pillaging the more resistant cities a bit. Thus the Dutch colonial and commercial empire was preserved, but gravely weakened, and the VOC's monopolistic aspirations were thwarted for good. In a separate treaty war with the Holy Roman Empire was concluded; the Hannoverian elector surrendered his claim to the British throne in exchange for a certain secret deal with the British government, and the Bishopric of Munster came under Wittelsbach rule. The war in Cambodia grinded to a halt, and in 1738 a treaty was signed; the French were forced to withdraw their troops from Cambodia, but Cambodia retained its independence, though losing a few border territories and fortifications there. It also had to pay out a comparatively small tribute to Ayutthaya. A formal treaty on the Philippines was signed by the Spanish and Chinese officials in 1739; by then Spanish presence on the Philippines was virtually nonexistant, so all that they bargained out was an evacuation, a limited compensation and the Emperor's guarantee of the safety of the Spanish and other Christian population in the islands as long as they stay in line.
The Fallout.
Although considerably less intense, damaging or dramatic than, say, the Eleven Years War, the Second Dutch War nonetheless left an important mark on history - perhaps less by its direct outcome and more by its unintended consequences.
During and immediately after the war, the endless political crisis that has dominated the United Provinces since the death of Willem III - the last stadtholder - had reached its climax. The United Provinces themselves were devastated and Dutch power world-wide severely shaken; and the Staten-Generaal were effectively dispersed by the loss of the Hague and of Amsterdam. After all those cataclysms, it was clear that a new strong central leadership was required. However, with the Dutch political elite in disarray, the rise of such a leadership became a more difficult question than usually. At first it was proposed that a new stadtholder is given power; the stadtholder of Friesland seemed to be in a fairly good position. However, as a result of some complex intrigues and backroom deals in the Republic and on the greater diplomatic arena, a new option appeared and gained popularity. With the support of Magnus V and Karl VI, as well as of significant fations in the House of Orange and ofcourse in the Republic itself, Georg Ludwig I of Hannover (who was related to the House of Orange) took upon the newly-created Dutch royal title and accepted a constitution that essentially made the Dutch king roughly equivalent to a stadtholder under the old system, but still with a bit more power, and much more pomp and prestige. Although Hannover and Holland were united by little more than their monarch de jure, de facto they also had major commercial ties (especially now when tariffs between the two were lowered further) and, from now on, an unified foreign policy. That included the colonies, where the incipient Hannoverian colonial ventures were now integrated with the Dutch ones, as part of the general colonial reforms.
Those reforms were quite uneven. On one hand, the WIC (West-Indische Compagnie) - having been crippled and bankrupted by the war and the loss of Suriname - was taken over by the government, along with its territories; its resources and those of the new Dutch and Hannoverian colonial ventures were directed to West and Central Africa, where considerable gains were made. On the other hand, the VOC now effectively slipped out of the Dutch government's grasp, its headquarters fully moved to Batavia and greater ties being established with China (the government and the guilds) as well as various foreign European ventures. The VOC thus asserted its already existant effective autonomy, and as the treasury was reliant on East Indian trade King Joris I had to live with it. In any case, it still did remain a Dutch company, and so it was provided with the troops it needed to conquer Soccotra and put down a Javan rebellion. All in all things weren't really all that bad.
The apparent British support for the new Hannoverian maneuver had put a significant dent in the Entente. That was a risk the new British king, Charles III, was willing to take as he focused on securing his position at home, a task in which the abandonment of Hannoverian claims and the distraction of the elderly King-Elector could only help. Unlike his father, and like his two namesakes on the English throne, Charles III was unwilling to be a puppet of the Parliament. Fortunately, the parliamentary forces too were considerably weakened - first by the Jacobite Revolution and then by the interfaction strife and failed pro-Hannoverian conspiracies of the Second Dutch War. Also, having inherited the throne directly as opposed to claiming it in a parliamentary coup, Charles III was in a much better position to dictate his conditions. Drawing back upon the new generation ultra-loyal and ultra-nationalistic Tories (most notably the Prime Minister William Doleridge), whom he had managed to place in most important positions by 1740 (as the more parliamentary and moderate Tory "old guard" retired), he decimated the Whig opposition after a series of new investigations into the war-time conspiracies and into James III's suspicious death. Many Whig leaders were exiled or imprisoned; many of the radical Whigs were even executed. Beheaded, the opposition was too weak anyway to try and act against the popular and ruthless monarch. While actual legal changes were kept to a minimum, a radical political change had occured within the very loose and vague bounds of the British political laws - if before, it was the Parliament that dominated, now the king made it clear that the assorted Royal Prerogatives were not solely nominal.
